MI7 Japan Inc.
MI7 Japan Inc. is the company behind Macne Nana and the Macne Series. History Key people Macne Series Macne Series (Mac音シリーズ) is a series of voice banks designed for and , music sequencer software for the Macintosh operating system, developed by MI7 Japan Inc. and distributed by Act2. The idea of releasing a voicebank for Macintosh computers was conceptualized in the Japanese voice actress 's regular column 天声姫語 Vox Reginae, Vox Dei ("voice of princess, voice of god," a spoof of 's editorial article 天声人語 Vox Populi, Vox Dei or voice of the people, voice of god) carried in the magazine Mac Fan by Mainichi Communications. The voicebanks in their original form are considered difficult to use or noted for being time consuming to use as there is no quick input method like with VOCALOID and UTAU. Results are usually heavily robotic when used outside of UTAU and they have almost no capabilities to sound human-like. Usage At the time of release, VOCALOID and UTAU were both released for the PC, leaving Macintosh computers with no such software for music users in Japan. The Macne series would serve to fill that void. For Mac users, the Macne series is one of the best options for vocal music creation as at the time of their first release there were few alternatives. This made them popular with Japanese software users of Reason and GarageBand. The characters are used in Reason or GarageBand by selecting one of them as an instrument and altering pitches and lengths of sound files. Since then a number of vocals for the Macne series has been produced and there are currently 6 characters in the series. Each new character is created to become a part of the "Macne family" and so some have relationships with each other such as the twins "Macne Coco White" and "Macne Coco Black" and the Macnes' 'father' "Macne Papa". Some vocals have also been updated to new versions and older versions have been retired from sale. They can also work normally on UTAU by converting their samples and providing a tuned oto.ini file, although the new files will not work with Reason or GarageBand. Users interested in using them for UTAU conversions must simply purchase the original versions and they will be allowed to then transfer the samples into UTAU. The reason for this allowance for the vocals to be converted is because they are sold under a unlike VOCALOID. So long as the user uses them as their intended purpose (as sound samples), there is no issue with what software they use it for, with UTAU being comparable with the license and terms of usage as it counts as using them as "sound samples" still. Since the release of the vocal, the Macnes have begun to contain already converted UTAU voicebanks. However, upon the release of Nana as a Vocaloid, all the past Voicebanks for Reason, Garage Band and UTAU have been retired. Some of the voice providers have moved on, with the Coco Twins's provider Kikuko Inoue voiced an entirely new VOCALOID, Haruno Sora, meaning that going forward the series is currently in limbo. *'Vocals': **' ' (Mac音ナナ) was the first vocal for the series, she later became a VOCALOID3 and 4'' voicebank released by AH-Software. **' ' (Mac音プチ) was the second vocal and designated as the little sister of the family, she too was later released as a ''VOCALOID4. **' ' (Mac音パパ) is the first and only male vocal of the series. **' ' (Mac音ココ白) is the eldest sister of the family and is the twin of Black. **' ' (Mac音ココ黒) was released as the second eldest sister and the twin of White. **' ' (ウィスパー☆エンジェル ささやきさん) is currently the latest vocal and an alter-ego of Macne Petit, she stands out with her blue and white theme. *'Examples of usage': ** ** ** Voicebanks VOCALOID3 NanaJapanese.jpg|Macne Nana|link=Macne Nana (VOCALOID3) VOCALOID4 V4_Nana_Complete_box.png|Macne Nana V4|link=Macne Nana V4 Promotional Involvement Trivia References External links * Official Site * macne.net * MI7 Japan on Facebook * MI7 Japan (@mi7japan) on twitter * * *Website MacneNana Navigation Category:Companies Category:MI7 Japan Inc.